The Most Egregious Errors on the BBC's List of the 100 Greatest Comedies of All Time

From Shutting Out Judd Apatow to Including Pulp Fiction

Yesterday, the BBC dropped their list of the 100 best comedies of all time. Billy Wilder’s 1959 classic,
Some Like It Hot took the top spot, and while the list skews towards the oldies, it also made room
for movies like Step Brothers, Anchorman, Zoolander and not one, but two Wes
Anderson films, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Based on input from 253 critics, from
52 different countries, the list is definitely credible, and quite possibly definitive.

Still, though we aren’t as wonky about movies as the critics who made these lists, we had our gripes with
the rankings. Herewith, their most egregious errors…

Shutting out Judd Apatow
They clearly chose some movies based on how influential they were rather than their pure comedic values, so
how the hell does Judd Apatow not made it even once? The dude’s name is at adjective status by now. I
don't love or even like all his movies, but he's probably the most significant comedy film figure of this
millennium. And 40 Year Old Virgin is a fucking classic. But don’t take my word for it. Take A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis’s.

A Woody Allen-related flub
I don't think I want to live in a world where Zelig made this list and Manhattan
didn't.

The inclusion of Hot FuzzBritish much?O Brother Where Art Thou? should take the place of the overrated Big
Lebowski
I have it on good authority that two other editors who have contributed to this article but fear retribution
agree.Pulp Fictionis not a comedy
Yes, it’s a great movie that’s hard to pin down genre-wise, but is it more a comedy than anything
else?

There should be some Vince Vaughn on this list
Look this isn't about Oscars or critical acclaim. This is about comedy. Try and pretend you didn’t laugh
at a ridiculous frequency during Wedding Crashers, or Old School, or even
Dodgeball. Not even any love for Swingers?

--Geoff Rynex

The exclusion of Wet Hot American Summer
A postmodern cult classic that helped launched the career of some of comedy’s biggest names. It's its own
thing.

What is Clueless doing on this list?
Sure, Clueless is a seminal teen movie, and even a seminal LA movie. But on comedy chops alone it
has no place on this list at #34, between Singin’ in the Rain and Anchorman.

That last aside only further solidifies my hunch that 50% of these so-called critics were not taking
this very seriously and the other half were taking this far too seriously.
And I can't tell which are which.

It also leads me to believe that Eddie Murphy is somehow criminally underrated.
Especially '80s Eddie. Coming to America is an unimpeachably classic film, let alone comedy film.
And it's nowhere to be seen. Okay, fine, I do see they gave Trading Places a nod at #73, but come
on. That was literally the least they could do. (Not to mention this list is sorely lacking diversity in
general, ahem, #BBC100SoWhite.)

And while we're making up hashtags on the spot: #BBC100SoSober. Aside
from Lebowsky (which, yep, I'd take O Brother over), The Hangover and
Animal House this list is lacking in some good old fashioned mind-altered romps like Half
Baked, Old School, Knocked Up, Superbad, etc.

Dumb and Dumbershould be on this list.
And Wayne's World. And more Steve Martin. And more Robin Williams. And so on and so forth.

–Najib Benouar

The Dumb and Dumberquandary
Imagine channel-flipping onto Groundhog Day and someone saying something along the lines of: "Ah,
Groundhog Day. Definitely in my top-five comedies, right in front of 1933's Duck Soup."

And to that you say, "Well, you also flipped right past Dumb and Dumber. Wouldn't you rather watch
that for a few minutes? A more funny, engaging movie?"

And to that, the person smugly says, "Please... I don't even have Dumb and Dumber in my
top-100!"

You automatically dislike that person, right? Or at the very least, question why they are in your living
room in the first place.

--Thompson Brandes

Mark Harmon’sSummer School...
...should be number one on this list, let alone not included at all.